Psychology Professor: There are no advantages to single-sex schools

Many people think that single sex schools are better for students than others. The general idea is that students will be less distracted away from members of the opposite sex.

Diane Halpern, a psychology professor and former president of the American Psychological Association, pointed out in front of the Australian Psychological Society that there were no advantages to single sex schools.

Her claim was based on an analysis of 184 studies. According to Halpern, these studies failed to return any compelling evidence that single sex classrooms provide any advantage. Also, there was no conclusive research that boys and girls learn differently.

Halpern even eluded to the fact that same sex education could even be detrimental, as work environments and institutions of higher learning are very seldom single sex.

“In fact, children are going to live in a world that’s far more diverse than ever before – they are going to have to interact with females and males, they are going to have to understand that sometimes the girls are going to outscore the boys and that sometimes the boys will outscore the girls.

After graduation, virtually everyone will work for and with females and males – students need to learn mutual respect and the social skills of interacting.” Halpern said.